A week full of casualties

The second casualty recorded since my move to Shanghai: behold Plant #2... *sigh* I don't think 10 day trips to Tibet and week-long business trips to Beijing were written in the stars for this plant. It was destined to not survive...as with any plant that sets root in my apartment. The aloe plants are holding out; apparently only the hardiest of species can survive these harsh conditions...but even they seem a little limp, though...

For those of you who wonder why there are never any accidents in a city with as many cars, motorcycles, scooters, and bicycles as Shanghai...It's been reported that one of our company shuttles ran over a bicyclist recently. Between the two major Shanghai sites, there are roughly ~50 shuttle buses that pick us up around the city, and take us into work. Apparently after having dropped of our employees, this bus was rounding a corner when the bicycle came flying through the intersection, right in front of the bus.

With the layoffs happening around us, it's been a dreadful few weeks of checking in with friends, to see how everyone is doing. It's almost like there's an epidemic going around the company and we're sifting through the carnage, looking to see who's left, and who's survived. The "affected" (or rather "afflicted") have a deadline of today to decide what their next steps are. Best of luck to everyone...the world outside is large, and consider yourselves free to explore...armed with a severance package, you may be the luckiest among us.